Hero Mate by Lancelot Gao

[raw]
made by Lancelot Gao for LD33 (JAM)
A hero can't make his legend without monsters.
Play as the monster(s) and help the hero beating each game level!

Move: A/D, Arrow Keys
Jump: Space

---------

This game used to be a Compo entry, but I can't stop polishing it and making more levels after 48 hours.
So I decided to work on and make it a Jam entry.

The code and assets were made from scratch and solo. Win & lose SFX are stock assets.

Ratings

Coolness 70% 3
Overall(Jam) 4.02 54
Audio(Jam) 3.39 259
Fun(Jam) 3.80 83
Graphics(Jam) 4.30 108
Humor(Jam) 3.25 287
Innovation(Jam) 4.07 33
Mood(Jam) 3.53 228
Theme(Jam) 4.14 63

Feedback

REIN1
24. Aug 2015 · 06:33 UTC
Very cool concept! Just little short!I wish i can play more levels of this game in future!
nicotuason
24. Aug 2015 · 06:56 UTC
Beautiful art! The characters are very cute and the world has lovely colors. I think the concept is interesting, and a bit sad because the monster has to die so that the hero can reach his goal. Would love to have seen more levels and content!
lolfrad
24. Aug 2015 · 10:28 UTC
This game is awesome. Really cool concept, really great graphics, great music.
bombjack
24. Aug 2015 · 16:19 UTC
I've been surprised that the monster had to help the hero. But why not? pretty fun.
felipeberquo
26. Aug 2015 · 01:37 UTC
The art style is very nice, remember me the old N64 games!
TEAM-TIGER
26. Aug 2015 · 01:43 UTC
Amazing. Very clever to make you the monster in the game but also that you want the hero to survive. very well done.
Arg410
26. Aug 2015 · 01:48 UTC
Great Game. Never would've thought of a monster helping the hero..... what if all this time the koopa troopers they can fly. Go up and down in one stop just waiting to help somebody across the unjumpable gap!!!!! MIND BLOWN
SuperPokeunicorn
26. Aug 2015 · 01:57 UTC
Fantastic! Amazing interpretation of theme and very interesting puzzle gameplay. Good job!
khahem
26. Aug 2015 · 01:59 UTC
Good idea, the multi-monster control and stacking is really cool and intuitive.

During the first level I was sometimes tricked by the orthographic perspective, I wasn't sure if it was below or in front of something else, not a problem though :)

Thank you princess !
dwemthy
26. Aug 2015 · 02:02 UTC
Great game. Solid graphics, neat concept that was developed well over the levels.
AntonyBaasan
26. Aug 2015 · 02:18 UTC
Wow lot of work here. Good job.
pkenney
26. Aug 2015 · 02:23 UTC
Ha! This was a really clever take on the theme, I liked it a lot. Nice graphics and controls, too. Well done!
cowboycolor
26. Aug 2015 · 02:27 UTC
Cute to death. I was expecting a role reversal "kill the player" type deal, and was pleasantly surprised. Great art and I love that jump sfx
AlexPGilbert
26. Aug 2015 · 02:30 UTC
wow wow wow. You won me over just with the innovation. I love your take on the theme. Way to think outside the box!!

Great game! Good job!
Crazi456
26. Aug 2015 · 02:56 UTC
Very fun little game! Loved the levels, great work
jtpup0
26. Aug 2015 · 02:58 UTC
Mind bending and different< a very fun twist on being the monster!
Sicilica
26. Aug 2015 · 03:01 UTC
Ha, makes me rethink so many classic games
benmcnelly
26. Aug 2015 · 03:01 UTC
Ha, I didn't read the instructions and just started playing. I was so confused. Figured it out, and I love it. One of the best plays on theme, stellar graphics, multiple levels. Hands down one the most solid entries so far!
Rulrite
26. Aug 2015 · 03:01 UTC
You did a really fantastic job with this game! I was pleasantly surprised by the concept, and I love the puzzle element - it's really well done, especially considering you made it in three days. You should be proud of your work!
PowerSpark
26. Aug 2015 · 03:07 UTC
Great game man! This is so well made!
mooncalf
26. Aug 2015 · 03:09 UTC
Great visuals and audio! Poor monster, better be getting cookies for making the hero look good.
dydx
26. Aug 2015 · 03:09 UTC
This is great! Cute, clean graphics and fun puzzles. I loved the final level :)
TaleEngineer
26. Aug 2015 · 04:09 UTC
Great concept, great art, great mechanics. A fantastic game all around!
Ninja Garage
26. Aug 2015 · 05:01 UTC
Very nice entry, bro!
MartinFernandez
26. Aug 2015 · 06:04 UTC
Really great game!
saucygames
26. Aug 2015 · 06:17 UTC
Amazing job, gg
Simonaiso
26. Aug 2015 · 06:34 UTC
Nice completed game. Haven't seen this concept before, original, clever and fun!
Rocketship
26. Aug 2015 · 06:38 UTC
Very nice take on the theme and interesting mechanic. Levels got progressively harder which was nice design also. Well done!
tmpxyz
26. Aug 2015 · 06:45 UTC
Really a Great work!
Tuism
26. Aug 2015 · 06:57 UTC
Great concept, it works really well mechanically, even if narratively it makes no sense... It's dying for some writing around it :P

The music is grating! But other than that it's pretty polished, it feels like it could use a bit more... fine tuning (movements, animations and such) but it's great for a jam product :)

Well done! :)
Piotrek
26. Aug 2015 · 06:58 UTC
Nice concept for theme using, graphics looks nice and levels was fun to play
Jod
26. Aug 2015 · 07:05 UTC
That was surprisingly cute!

Very well executed and polished. Loved it!

Oh, if only the hero knew of the purple slime's love for him...
CosmicAdventureSquad
26. Aug 2015 · 07:09 UTC
Fantastic execution! Really creative use of the theme, and I felt the art, music, and gameplay all worked really well together.
fullmontis
26. Aug 2015 · 07:26 UTC
Excellent use of the theme! To me it was not obvious that I am controlling the monster, I thought that it was a platformer on rails or something like that. I thought this because I saw the hero in the intro and I thought I was cotrolling him. Anyway, the gameplay is quite nice and clever, I really like it!
Azure_Kyte
26. Aug 2015 · 07:41 UTC
This is awesome! I really hope you continue this game, I had a lot of fun with it!
theshadowteam
26. Aug 2015 · 07:57 UTC
Very great concept, hope i can save the lovely princess :'(, more level in world 2 (if you expend) please , the best game that i play so far in ld33 , great job!
lancemaker
26. Aug 2015 · 08:09 UTC
nice game, lovelly art.
Arnage
26. Aug 2015 · 08:28 UTC
Great concept, great art, great levels, just great :)
reckhou
26. Aug 2015 · 08:30 UTC
First five star rate. Well done!!
Solifuge
26. Aug 2015 · 08:33 UTC
Monsters helping an incompetent auto-scroller hero is a really clever take on the theme, and I appreciate it a lot! Love the cute style, and the surprising variety you got out of just movement and jumping. Short and sweet, but a definite favorite from this LD!
freaknarf
26. Aug 2015 · 08:38 UTC
Cool game mechanics!
That's original to help the "hero" rather than trying to kill him... Graphics are super cute and well done, and the game itself was a bit easy, yet nice to walk through. Game's end was quite fun :)
Good job !
GhostBomb
26. Aug 2015 · 08:43 UTC
Very cool
LeoM
26. Aug 2015 · 11:16 UTC
Nice concept ! Good use of the theme !
I sadly didnt succed to finish the last lvl... :'( I always miss the last jump, but was fun anyway.
pereubu
26. Aug 2015 · 11:16 UTC
nice level design and art :>
ovenchips
26. Aug 2015 · 11:31 UTC
Spectacular. You are very talented. This is the best game I've played so far.
Oran Bar
26. Aug 2015 · 11:42 UTC
A really good idea, and well executed
Dell
26. Aug 2015 · 13:40 UTC
Wow this is great! Such a good use of the theme :) Well done!
qkerguelen
26. Aug 2015 · 15:36 UTC
Very cool game with sweet graphics and audio. Good job!
Sergi Montaner
26. Aug 2015 · 15:53 UTC
The mechanic is original and nicely implemented.
bytegrove
26. Aug 2015 · 16:14 UTC
Really cool concept and really well executed! Super nice work! My only complaints are:
The music, it was really annoying.
The level with the large squid. The jump timing and hit areas are too unforgiving, combined with the music and the fact that you have to clear the gap 4 times, made me give up.
But all in all one of the best and most original entries I've played so far, really nice work!! :D
ferpess
26. Aug 2015 · 17:24 UTC
cool game,amazing concept and cool old school gameplay!
Robinerd
26. Aug 2015 · 17:43 UTC
Congrats, you got my best ratings so far, and a really nice game for sure! I really like the use of the theme, and I can't really see anything bad about this. Great concept and a great execution! Thanks for letting me experience this.
Shackhal
26. Aug 2015 · 18:56 UTC
The game is well executed. Cool level design, nice graphics and sound. And the controls are very responsive. One thing I notice is the annoying "hero" that want to splash every single mob, so he goes backwards, ruining the run. Also, the "adeventure" at the end xD

Overall, is a very good game. Well done.
Donni11
26. Aug 2015 · 19:09 UTC
Wow ! Cool game ! I love the graphics !
shawn42
26. Aug 2015 · 21:30 UTC
Very neat. I liked the twist here.
smotko
26. Aug 2015 · 21:44 UTC
Excellent! Nice clean graphics and a really cool game concept. Well Done.
eric777
26. Aug 2015 · 23:11 UTC
Fantastic game. I really liked the cute theme and visuals. All around an amazing job!!!
Mach60KAS
27. Aug 2015 · 00:29 UTC
Great use of the theme and visually very well handled. Great work!
yuigoto
27. Aug 2015 · 10:24 UTC
Whoa, beautiful! The art style is cute and the game is really challenging. :D The polishing you did on this game is really worth it! :)

I wouldn't be able to do even half of the 3d work done here. :P It would be nice to see something with the monster not dying, like being a slime block on Minecraft. :P

Controls are nice and responsive and the audio/ost fits the game pretty nicely. :)

It would really be nice as a tablet/mobile game. It's also really friendly for children, save for the "monster has to die" thing.

Congrats! :)
taaboo
27. Aug 2015 · 10:39 UTC
The polish is amazing. Geting the hang of the gameplay was abit hard at start with no directions but after that it was prety good to play it. (I had the idea i was controlling the hero constantly)
dregamr
27. Aug 2015 · 10:50 UTC
Jajaja!! The princess is helping hin...obviously !! XD
Very good game, congratulations for so nice work.
justinooncx
27. Aug 2015 · 11:55 UTC
Holy shit, great game and concept. Very well polished, too, can't wait for World 2!
CrownCity
27. Aug 2015 · 12:41 UTC
Like everyone else said: this is a very nice concept! You can see that you've put a lot of work in this game. Like to play it too!
Only thing is: I'm not a fan of the music in the background.
glimaleite
27. Aug 2015 · 13:26 UTC
Interesting concept! Very cute game aswell. I just thought the monster was too slow. Still, great job!!
Mase
27. Aug 2015 · 13:41 UTC
Good quantity of levels. The interactive title screen is also a nice touch.
DuzDuz
27. Aug 2015 · 20:58 UTC
Really good concept! I loved it
Tanton-H2X
28. Aug 2015 · 08:25 UTC
What a amazing idea this game and the level design are pretty cool!!~
Smooth music and the Colorful visual presentation is sunny and full of young atmosphere!
At the game beginning ,When i recognized that i was the little monster(not the hero) i was so shocked, How genius it is ~!
Boss-Level is prettycool,so profound and strong gameplay and challenging level design,not too difficult ,but also not easy to stage clear .

remember that i may chanllenge it for more than 15times for the final level,and it seem has a small bug may in the Boss's collider? it appears at when i fallen into water after the boss was killed first time ...when the level reload because my death, found that i couldn't attack the Boss anymore... ToT..

this was be found when i first played it at the day before yesterday(sorry for forgot reply that time) i am not sure Whether the bug is still here, i just quit to the mainmenu and reload it to solve it just at that moment~~

in a word ,this is a totally genius game~! Hope you create more cool game next time! Best wishes~~☆゚
inbetweengames
28. Aug 2015 · 12:35 UTC
Very nice gameplay focused interpretation of the theme based of classical Mario tropes and perfectly executed as well.. but don't me I'm just the squishy purple monster. *sigh*
Riftpoint
28. Aug 2015 · 12:43 UTC
Its the best looking game of this ludum dare!
derr
28. Aug 2015 · 14:02 UTC
Wow that's the most innovative game I have played so far. Fun concept, you should develop this further post-Jam!
danialias
28. Aug 2015 · 14:09 UTC
Wow, very good one! Probably my highest rating so far. Waiting for the jam has been a good decision, it can compete easily against games made by groups. Congratulations!
voidstar33
28. Aug 2015 · 16:06 UTC
Very innovative idea. Game play is fun. The graphics are really cute.
GFM
28. Aug 2015 · 20:52 UTC
If I'm a slime... and a monster... and monsters have captured the princess... why am my going again my own people to help that hero bastard who wants to oppose us? .___.

Nonetheless, interesting idea! The graphics are really cute! =D
Arche-san
29. Aug 2015 · 13:00 UTC
Very interesting concept.
I love the way you interpret the theme. :)
commanderstitch
31. Aug 2015 · 00:16 UTC
graphics are fine. Found it kind of annoying that you are helping the hero to get to the end of the levels. :/
crafteverywhere
31. Aug 2015 · 15:19 UTC
It looks really nice, good job!
chuckeles
31. Aug 2015 · 15:20 UTC
Interesting idea. First game I played that wasn't about killing the player. Nice!
BtheDestroyer
31. Aug 2015 · 15:21 UTC
Great game, but I'm not sure if you qualify for Audio if you're using audio that other people made :/
Shaun LeBron
31. Aug 2015 · 15:41 UTC
beautiful art in this game. nice little mechanic too. the dialogue at the end made me laugh
🎤 Lancelot Gao
31. Aug 2015 · 16:26 UTC
@BtheDestroyer Win & lose sfx are bought on Unity AssetStore, so I think I'm qualified to use them :)
veoviscool12
31. Aug 2015 · 16:42 UTC
This reminded me a lot of the Yoshi sacrifices in Super Mario World. Love it! It's a great little game with a fantastic art style, and I enjoyed the puzzle elements. Overall, excellent job.
Denis347
31. Aug 2015 · 17:36 UTC
Nice concept and cool graphics. Great game!
DarkwindMedia
31. Aug 2015 · 21:28 UTC
sweet idea!
guoboism
01. Sep 2015 · 08:31 UTC
Great game! Innovation as the monster helps hero...
Birke
01. Sep 2015 · 09:34 UTC
Good art and gameplay. It was a bit difficult to figure out where to stand and movement of the monsters felt a bit sluggish. A reset button on the keyboard would have been nice since you sometimes had to wait for quite a while for the hero to drop down in order to play again.
Donutttt
01. Sep 2015 · 14:03 UTC
Awesome idea! Very original, and a clever interpretation of the theme. Fun to play as well. The graphics and audio were really well done, really impressive.
walsh9
01. Sep 2015 · 15:01 UTC
Great concept and the progression of the idea as you go through the levels kept things interesting. I liked the boss level.
dcolgan
01. Sep 2015 · 16:06 UTC
Awesome use of the theme!
Clurect
01. Sep 2015 · 18:15 UTC
SO GREAT!
daydreamcorgigames
02. Sep 2015 · 03:37 UTC
Good concept, feels like Kill the Plumber.
bloomingbuds
02. Sep 2015 · 10:37 UTC
Very nice concept and style!
dickpoelen
02. Sep 2015 · 11:35 UTC
Nice game, but why are the blobs helping the hero? :)
treeman
03. Sep 2015 · 16:48 UTC
I love the idea!
allinlabs
03. Sep 2015 · 21:48 UTC
It's crazy how good the graphics are and how polished the game is. Really good game and interesting take on the theme
block97
04. Sep 2015 · 17:39 UTC
really creative and fun puzzle platformer!
Drauthius
04. Sep 2015 · 19:49 UTC
The monsters are always under-appreciated. :( Very nice entry!
wooltech
04. Sep 2015 · 22:28 UTC
Hah, great stuff! I was pretty confused at first - I though I was playing the hero for the first few levels, then realised he was on auto pilot, and finally noticed the controls moved the purple monster.

Nice puzzle game, highly polished.
valid4life
04. Sep 2015 · 23:47 UTC
The stacking of audio somewhat is obnoxious but overall a great entry!
spotco
05. Sep 2015 · 01:03 UTC
Very original concept and polished!
Wish there was a keyboard reset button.
jofra
06. Sep 2015 · 13:15 UTC
Very cool concept! very fun game :D Awesome art and very polished game. A 5* game for me.
Awesome job
boardtobits
07. Sep 2015 · 23:29 UTC
Cool idea! The hero death music was a little long after the first couple of times, but I liked the innovative use of the monsters.
crucknuk
09. Sep 2015 · 11:55 UTC
Polished graphics and slick gameplay :)
it is a really nice little game, the art style you choose suits the game as it is.
Kudos :)
Demy
09. Sep 2015 · 19:13 UTC
Awesome game and the game design rocks!
Pierrec
11. Sep 2015 · 07:16 UTC
Really clever, innovative and pollished! congratulations!
StaNov
11. Sep 2015 · 18:25 UTC
Wow man, just wow! You are simply pro. The best game I've played on Ludum Dare ever. Great job, great graphics, great level design, ... great everything!

Btw, did you also make the music by yourself?
Resonious
12. Sep 2015 · 00:57 UTC
I love the concept. Makes for some really neat puzzles.
🎤 Lancelot Gao
12. Sep 2015 · 13:21 UTC
@StaNov Music was generated using software. I can't make music.
Jupiter_Hadley
13. Sep 2015 · 16:45 UTC
Cute, fun game. I included it in part 29 of my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/s8htp2RZS7I
Ludipe
14. Sep 2015 · 17:01 UTC
Wow, this game is great! Liked the take on the theme and the level design. Art was also very cute. My only complain is that sometimes it's hard to guess what the hero is going to do, so it'd be super helpful to have some kind of indication that hints when he is going to do each jump.
thebrickanator
14. Sep 2015 · 21:23 UTC
Perfect :D I loved it! please build more levels and make a larger game with this concept ;)
dancingmad
14. Sep 2015 · 22:24 UTC
Your game is AWESOME !
Excellent controls, great artistic direction, innovating gameplay, polished game.

There is only one little problem : isometric view isn't always easy to understand, you could add a shadow under the player to correct it.

I'm happy to discover your game before results.
Great work !
Zccc
14. Sep 2015 · 22:58 UTC
Nice take on the theme, only the levels don't have much variety!
wademcgillis
15. Sep 2015 · 00:14 UTC
great game. spent too long on the last level and couldn't beat it.